Some interesting chats from Hong Kong

Regular Orange Ribbon listeners will know that Allan has spent the past month back in his favourite city in the world... Hong Kong. During his stay there, he attended the 2nd annual Gay Pride Parade on Sunday afternoon, 1st November, as did also our occasional program contributor, Reggie Ho, although somehow they missed each other on the actual day.

However, Allan did catch up with Reggie for a pleasant lunch at a Greek Restaurant in the Soho area of Hong Kong a couple of weeks later, and then arranged to meet up with Reggie again last Friday afternoon at his office in Quarry Bay, overlooking the beautiful Hong Kong Harbour. With that view in the background Allan recorded an interview with Reggie, covering a number of local LGBT issues, and also a review of the Pride Parade of earlier this month.

But Reggie also provided Allan with contact details for Brian Leung, who is well-known in radio and music circles in Hong Kong.

Brian Leung has more than 20 years radio experience with the three major radio networks in Hong Kong. Three years ago, Brian was approached to return to his former employer, the government-held RTHK Radio 2, to present a couple of new programs for that network. Brian assumed it was to use his music knowledge and experience to present new music programs. However he was amazed to learn that RTHK Radio 2 wanted him to present a weekly gay & lesbian radio program each Saturday evening. This was at the height of the Brokeback Mountain movie release, and RTHK thought it might be a good time to introduce a program for sexual minorities... specifically for the gay & lesbian community.

"We are Family" is Brian's weekly radio program, broadcast live at midnight every Saturday evening ion conservative Hong Kong. Brian chats to Allan about the start of the program, the issues of running such a program in Hong Kong, and about his own gradual "coming out" publicly over several years.


The only opportunity of catching up with Brian was last Friday evening, in a noisy coffee shop at the Festival Walk shopping Centre at Kowloon Tong. Brian was on his way to the premiere screening for the Hong Kong LGBT Film Festival, but was able to make 45 minutes available to Allan for this recorded chat.


Brian has several internet presences, including on Facebook, but perhaps this link will provide a general background to some of Brian's interests.

So.. all of this will be presented on Orange Ribbon on Wednesday evening, 25th November, at 7:00pm. Please join Allan as he chats to these two influential Hong Kong gay men, who each, in their own way, have a serious impact on attitudes to the gay & lesbian community in Hong Kong.

Italy... Yes, it's Italy again.

Three weeks ago we chatted to Cinzia (from Arcilesbica) and the The flag Sisters (Le Sorelle Bandiera) in the leadup to the major Italian GLBTIQ fund-raising social event.

Well, we're going back to Italy again this week because Cinzia's brother, Serafino, will be joining us in the studio for a chat. While brought up and educated in Australia, Serafino decided to return to Italy after completing university studies here, and has lived there ever since. But he tries to get back to Australia to visit the family on a semi-regular basis.

Serafino is back in town at the moment, but returns to Rome at the weekend. He runs two Pilates gymnasiums there, and also travels to various parts of the world training and lecturing on Pilates and general wellness issues. And we will hear about some of the celebrities who have used his services over the past few years.

Serafino knew he was gay well before he left Australia after completing university here, and says that he came out before his sister (Cinzia) did. Yes, a gay brother and gay sister in the one family!

Another really interesting chat coming up on Orange Ribbon this week. Let's talk about being gay, being Italian, comparison of living in Australia vs. Italy, and of course Pilates will get a going over as well.

Orange Ribbon... 7:00pm Wednesday 3rd June, on JOY 94.9

A Vietnamese heritage

He comes from a Vietnamese heritage, where his parents were Vietnamese boat people of the 1980's although they did not meet until after their respective arrivals in Australia. His parents later divorced, his gransparents later moved to Australia when they were in their 60's and did not then speak English. His grandparents were actually like parents to him.

He knew he must be gay from an early age, started listening to JOY when he was 16, and accepted that he was gay at 18. And he is a voice (and name...) that should be somewhat familiar to JOY listeners.

Who is he...? Listen in to Orange Ribbon this week and you will hear the full story.

Orange Ribbon... 7:00pm this Wednesday, 27th May, 2009.

This week on Orange Ribbon Wednesday 22 April

In February this year, Hugh returned to his home country, Scotland, for several weeks of catching up with family and friends. While he was there, he recorded two interviews for our Orange Ribbon listeners.

This week Hugh presents the first of those two recorded interviews.

While he was in Edinburgh he interviewed local Scottish guy, Martin.

Martin's story is controversial, and may shock, and is a coming of age story from the sixties. In the interview Martin talks about:

• Being adopted, and his painstaking search for his birth mother.

• The sexual practices of young teens, and in his case pre-teens, in Scotland

• Frequenting bars and drinking alcohol at a young age (Some things have not changed in the past 40 years)

• What the gay scene (as it was still illegal then) was like in Edinburgh in the 60’s, and how it shaped his future life.

To hear Martin's story in full, tune in to Orange Ribbon on JOY 94.9 on Wednesday, 22nd April, from 7:00pm to 8:00pm.

Tony Yap on this weeks program

PULSE is an exclusive short season of site-specific multimedia performances on the breath-taking JOY 94.9 CBD rooftop. The next season is coming up this coming Friday and Saturday (3rd & 4th April) featuring dance pieces by Yumi Umiamare and Tony Yap.

Tony and Umi have been collaborating through their unique styles over 14 years here in Australia, in Europe and in Eastern Asia. And this coming weekend is a further enhancement to that unique collaboratiuon. As a dancer Tony is influenced by his research into Asian sharmanistic trance dance and Butoh.

Tony Yap is Malaysian-born, but now well-established here in Australia on the contemporary dance scene. And he will be our special guest on Orange Ribbon this week (1st April). Tony will not only be talking about his upcoming event on thee JOY rooftop this coming weekend, but he will also talk about his life, from childhood in Malaysia, to his life in dance here in Australia,and all things in between.

So join the Orange Ribbon team at 7:00pm this coming Wednesday to hear about the life of this amazing artist, including some personal revelations of living in today's queer world.

A New Yorker tells his story

Coming up this week on Orange Ribbon is a discussion with Colin, who comes from the United States.

Colin is from New York, and grew up as a member of the Y generation. He will discuss what it is like to be a gay man growing up in America in his generation, and his subsequent move to The Big Apple. He will also share his views on what it is like being a gay man in the New York scene.

So join the Orange Ribbon team this coming Wednesday (11th February) at 7:00pm for another interesting story with an international angle.

A gay Muslim tells his story (28th January, 2009)

Our guest on Orange Ribbon this week is Shah, who was born and raised in Negeri Sembilan in southern Malaysia, as a member of a typical middle-class Muslim family. His father was a school headmaster and his mother was involved in womens politics.

Shah realised by his teenage years that he had feminine traits, and experienced a very difficult time as a result during his first three years of his secondary education at a boarding school, having to deal with criticism and derogatory comments from his peers. His early teenage years were a very unhappy time, resulting in him being moved to another school in order for him to complete his secondary education.

He later studied civil engineering, and then began working in that field, but very quickly realised it was "too butch" a career for him. He will tell us of his decision to change careers, and take out yet another degree, which was the trigger for his move to Melbourne where he completed a computer science degree, and gained some freedom.

But the family pressure was always there into his late 20's regarding an obvious lack of a girlfriend and prospective wife. He will tell us how his Mum offered to help locate a suitable girl, which resulted in a rather interesting scenario. But after another two years he finally decided to "come out" to his family. After the initial tears, his mother decided he needed to be "cured". So she called in a traditional healer, who offered a rather intriguing solution and "cure" for his gayness, which (surprise, surprise...!) did not convert Shah back into a good little straight boy again.

And there is so much more to this story, which Shah will tell us about this coming Wednesday evening (28th January).

Please join Allan at 7:00pm this Wednesday night to hear Shah's story... on this weeks edition of Orange Ribbon.

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And finally...

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To our Chinese friends both here in Australia, and around the world, we wish you all a great and prosperous Year of the Ox.

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So to our Cantonese speakers, Kung Hei Fat Choi.

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Or for our Mandarin speakers...Gong Xi Fa Cai.

Orange Ribbon - Wednesday 14th January

This week on the show we talk to Eng Kim, who originally comes from Johor Bahru in southern Malaysia, which is approximately 30 minutes drive from Singapore.

Eng Kim will tell us about his early life in Malaysia and talk about his education in a Chinese school, religion, and growing up in a middle to upper class family.

Eng Kim came to Australia in his late 20's and immediately started to study. He will talk us through all the different subjects he studied, where and what he studied in Australia and overseas.

He will also talk about when he discovered he was gay, the Sydney and Melbourne gay scene, and how he has not told his family he is gay, even though they all know and accept it.

To hear Eng Kim's story, tune in to Orange Ribbon on Joy 94.9 on Wednesday 14th January at 7.00pm.

A former Singaporean science teacher this week - 3rd Dec. 2008

In September, 2007, a very popular Singaporean science teacher rocketed to public prominence as a result of him "outing" himself via his internet blog. The furore generated in Singapore as a result of that public outing resulted in him taking down his blog again almost immediately, followed by he and his school being placed under immense stress as the various bigots and religious zealots vented their anger and annoyance.

Otto Fong had been a very popular, yet somewhat unusual, science teacher for another reason. Apart from his fascination with science from a very young age, he was also an extremely competent artist and cartoonist. During his teaching years he started using comics in the classroom to help him in teaching science, and to help make science more interesting and easier to learn for his students. As a result he has published books of comics, and books that teach science using his comic art.

And of course he still maintains his blog, and you can check out his blog for a fascinating read, and to see innumerable examples of his cartooning capabilities.

This week on Orange Ribbon we will be chatting with this wonderfully fascinating former science teacher, who has now taken up comics as a full-time career. Please join Hugh and Allan as they chat with Otto Fong, this coming Wednesday (3rd December) between 7:00-8:00pm on JOY 94.9FM

HIV+ Chinese man on this weeks program (19th Nov. 2008)

Regular listeners to Orange Ribbon will know that I have just spent another month in Hong Kong, having just returned to Melbourne early last week. In fact over the past 21 months I seem to have spent a LOT of time up there (upwards of 6 months spread over about 8-9 visits...), because I love the place, and I also have many wonderful friends who live there, both ex-pats as well as local Chinese.

One of my very good Chinese friends in Hong Kong is Marc. I have been speaking with him for almost a year now (over several of my recent visits...) with a view to having him as a guest on Orange Ribbon. For reasons that will shortly become obvious, I was keen to interview Marc, but I was obviously well aware of the sensitivity of a subject that I wished to discuss with him in any interview I might conduct with him.

After careful consideration over many months, Marc finally sat down with me in Hong Kong last Sunday week to record the interview that I will present on Orange Ribbon this week. I sincerely thank Marc for having the gumption and openness to be interviewed, because he has a story that will provide hope for many others in the same position as himself, and particularly for other Asians who might be in the same position.

Marc is a Hong Kong-born Chinese, from a somewhat unusual family structure, his mother having been married and then divorced in China. She then made the decision to start a new life for herself, so moved south to Hong Kong, re-married, then had Marc and four more siblings, in addition to five half-siblings that had earlier been born in mainland China.

However... at the tender age of 18 years Marc discovered that he was HIV Positive. That was in 1987... which means that he has been living with the virus 21 years now. He openly discusses how this affected his younger adult years, and how his attitude to life changed as time progressed and he realised that perhaps he did not have a "death sentence" after all.

So please join me this coming Wednesday evening (19th November), at 7pm, for this weeks edition of Orange Ribbon. I also hope to include a few music tracks of some recent albums that I picked up in Hong Kong while I was there on this most recent visit.

Allan Smales

This week on Orange Ribbon - 22nd October, 2008

On last weeks program we were pleased to have Ka Fam return to being a regular on the Orange Ribbon team, after having been away for the past 3 months. And in a couple of weeks Aline will also return to the team again after having spent the past 5 months in Brisbane on a work assignment.

But just as the full team is getting back on board again, Allan is now away in Hong Kong again, and won't be back until mid November.

But the remaining team will continue presenting an interesting multicultural program to you each Wednesday evening.

On this week's program we will be chatting to Jason who is an ex army officer, and who joined the army when it was illegal to be in the armed forces if you were gay. Jason will walk us through his life in the Army, getting married, and then coming out to being gay to his fellow officers in the Army.

Please join us again at 7pm on Wednesday evening for this interesting discussion.

Coming up 1st October program

As per earlier posts in this blog, Allan Smales was in Hong Kong recently, having only returned to Melbourne again three weeks ago.

This weeks program presents the second, of the two interviews that he recorded while he was in Hong kong. Christopher is a Hong Kong-born musician and lyricist, whose band, Tai Chi, had a number of Canto-pop hits in Hong Kong during the 1980's. Christopher talks about the much simpler (and poorer...) Hong Kong of his childhood memories, and his involvement in the Hong Kong music scene of the 1980's where he was a composer and lyricist for the then popular band, Tai Chi. We will even get to play some of his compositions during the program on Wednesday evening.

But Christopher has another side. He has found he has been able to communicate with the spirit world, and tells a few stories of his encounters, including the spooky "partying" in his family mansion of the spirits of aborted babies from some 30 years previous, when a family member had been involved in some illegal medical activities.

Christopher led a "straight" life (girlfriends and the whole bit...) until a chance sexual encounter with another male in the 1990's suddenly awakened his gay side, and has never looked back since. For the past 3 years or so, Christopher has become an active Buddhist, and literally daily consults with his Buddhist Master in whom he places a lot of trust, and who has helped him interpret some of his ghostly spirit world encounters.

All of the music to be played in this weeks program will also be by Christopher. So Join Allan as he presents this interview with another interesting Hong Kong chinese guy with a fascinating Canto pop musical background.

JOY 94.9FM at 7:00pm, Wednesday, 1st October, in Melbourne, or "Listen Live" by going to the JOY website and click on the "listen Live" icon at the top of the page.

Orange Ribbon - 13th August, 2008

Ash and Allan got together earlier this evening to have an "on air" discussion with Coco, an Indian lesbian who moved to Melbourne just 5 months ago to undertake creative arts studies. Coco is a very interesting young lady because she accepts that she is lesbian yet has never had a female/female relationship (yet) nor "consumated" physically with another female to this point in time.

She told us about coming out 12 months ago (while she was still in India...) to her younger sister and brother who are both "cool" with her revelation. However, she is still to come out to her parents, which could be a little way down the track yet. Coco told us about being let down by an Indian flatmate friend here in Melbourne just 3 months ago when that "friend" advised Coco's mother that her daughter was a lesbian during a maternal visit, which had to be refuted for the time being.

Coco also has an interest in the darker side of life, likes heavy/dark music and is also interested in the goth culture, although she is not sure if she would take it up or not.

You can listen in to Coco's interview by selecting the "Podcast" option from the JOY website, then locationg the Orange Ribbon broadcast option.

One more program (20th August) and then Allan will be off to Hong Kong for almost three weeks, leaving Ash and Hugh to run the program for 27th August and 3rd September.

Next week (20th August) we have an interesting discussion coming up on immigrant sex workers in Melbourne. Join us at 7:00pm next Wednesday for that interesting chat with the Health and Education Support Worker (Carolyn Mogharbel) at Resourcing Health & Education in the Sex Industry (RED) in St. Kilda.